Wednesday, 5 October 2011

The great number 9 debate of the All Blacks

SBW you ain't, Jimmy

New Zealand have three half backs. Piri Weepu. Andrew Ellis. Jimmy Cowan. Piri has a lion heart. He can kick goals and play first five if need be. Sure, he might not be the leanest man on the field, but he is one of the nicest afterwards, plus he knows how to play the big games. But is he up there with the Genia’s or Du Preez’s of the world. We all know, probably not.

Andrew Ellis is weaker that Piri and partial to a spot of river dancing before he passes the ball to his outsides, so he is not my favourite. He has coasted by having the incredible fortune of playing for the Crusaders for most of his professional days and it is easy to look quite good when you’re behind a pack of Richie McCaw’s and Brad Thorne’s and inside a player like Dan Carter.

But if I was Sophie, I would find it very hard to choose between him and Cowan (for the wrong reasons). Jimmy Cowan, once right up there, is now the great pretender. Right down to holding the ball in the palm of his hand as he dives over the tryline for an easy try against Canada the other day...sorry Chris Ashton, oops, I mean, Jimmy. There are only two rugby players in the world that deserve to hold the ball in the palm of their hands - SBW and pinetree. The rest of you are just showboating and pretending. Protect the ball and get your own brand of playing rugby (i.e., a better one than you're managing to pull out of the hat at the mo).

So, for me it's Piri first. Cowan and Ellis are both a very poor third equal. But I'm not Ted. Who do you think should be the number one number nine for the All Blacks? Weepu, Ellis or Cowan?